February 18, 2018 First Sunday of Lent Reading 1 Gn 9:8-15 God said to Noah and to his sons with him: "See, I am now establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you: all the birds, and the various tame and wild animals that were with you and came out of the ark.I will establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyedby the waters of a flood; there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth."God added:"This is the sign that...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A Charlotte woman reported to jail Friday morning after she baptized her daughter. The court case goes back a couple of years to when Kendra Stocks and Paul Schaaf were in a custody battle over their daughter. According to court documents, the two could never agree to the terms of their daughter's baptism. "It’s just very sad. It’s all just a very sad situation,” Stocks told Channel 9.

Those close to the Pope Emeritus say reports from earlier today are baseless.Just hours after a German magazine quoted Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, 94, the older brother of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, as saying that Benedict has a neurological disease, aides in Rome said that was “baseless.” It was not clear if the German periodical, today’s edition of Neue Post, misquoted the monsignor, or where the source of the error was. Supposedly, Georg had said that if the paralysis caused by the disease were to reach his brother’s heart, “things could be over quickly.” Aides of the Pope Emeritus at the...

THE Church of England and the Methodist Church moved one step closer together last week. After a wide-ranging debate, the General Synod approved Mission and Ministry in Covenant, a report that proposes creating full interchangeability of ministers between the two Churches, moving towards full communion, if not full unity (News, 26 January). Although a number of concerns were raised on the floor of the Synod during the debate, the report was given overwhelming support, and in the vote received comfortably more than a two-thirds majority in each of the Houses: Bishops, Clergy, and Laity. As a prelude to the debate,...

Mardin (Agenzia Fides) - A decree has ordered the full restitution of ecclesiastical assets scattered in the Mardin region to the Syriac Orthodox Church and that in 2017 had been placed under the control of Turkish public institutions. The attorney of the Foundation of the Monastery of Mor Gabriel, announced that the matter was the subject of a decree. 30 ecclesiastical assets will be returned to the foundations and to the organisms linked to the Syriac-Orthodox Church which previously belonged to them. Among the assets that will definitively be returned to the control of the Syriac Orthodox Church there are...

Vatican City, Feb 15, 2018 / 12:50 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis told Jesuits in Chile last month that he’s willing to have discussions with people who disagree with him, but that when people just shout ‘heretic’, he prays for them instead. “When I perceive resistance, I try to dialogue, when dialogue is possible; but some resistance comes from people who believe they have the true doctrine and they accuse you of being a heretic.” “When in these people, for what they say or write, I do not find spiritual goodness, I simply pray for them. I feel sorry, but...

Nevertheless I have a few things against you, for you have there those who hold to the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication… (Rev 2:14)By the end of the fourth ‘parable’ of Balaam, both he and Balak the king were fully aware of God’s purposes for Israel. The utter impossibility of using any kind of divination against Israel was now obvious to the badly shaken king and to the seer also – whose eyes God had opened. They would go...

"I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am" (Phil. 4:11). Discontent and ingratitude will steal your joy. True joy is God's gift to every believer, yet many Christians seem to lack it. How can that be? Did God fail them? No. As with peace, assurance, and other benefits of salvation, joy can be forfeited for many reasons: willful sin, prayerlessness, fear, self-centeredness, focusing on circumstances, and lack of forgiveness are the main culprits. Two of the most common joy-thieves are dissatisfaction and ingratitude. Both are by-products of the health, wealth, and prosperity mentality of our day. It...

“The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8). God’s love is unconditional and righteous. We hear a lot today about love from books, magazines, TV, and movies. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think that our society is the most loving on earth. Much of the “love,” though, is nothing more than lust masquerading as love, or selfishness disguised as kindness. But today’s verse tells us that “God is love”; the character of God defines love. To clear up any confusion about love, we need only to look at who...

A Proposed Rule by the Health and Human Services Department on 01/26/2018 This document has a comment period that ends in 38 days. (03/27/2018) AGENCY: Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Office of the Secretary, HHS. ACTION: Proposed rule. SUMMARY: In the regulation of health care, the United States has a long history of providing conscience-based protections for individuals and entities with objections to certain activities based on religious belief and moral convictions. Multiple such statutory protections apply to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS, or the Department) and the programs or activities it funds or administers. The Department...

The reactions from Left and Right are all too predictable in the wake of the Parkland shootings. My social media feeds are overflowing with self serving proclamations, dubious statistics, hateful name calling, and all around foolishness. As usual, both sides are screaming at each other and no one is really listening. I get the Left’s position on gun control. If we want to prevent these national tragedies, we should make it as difficult as possible for people to get their hands on assault rifles. Even if these guns can be obtained via illegal channels, why make it easy for a...

1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 4 And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region...

Pastor Shane Idleman describes losing a child to abortion: “Approximately 22 years ago, as a prodigal, I conceded to my girlfriend’s request to abort our child around the 5th week. The pain of that decision still haunts me today. What would my child look like? Was it a boy or a girl? I can picture walking and talking with my child…watching his or her first steps…holding them when they cry and rejoicing with them when they succeed. But these are just dreams in my mind; dreams that often leave me heartbroken. Regret is one of the hardest pains because it...

Remembering That We Are Dust, as Seen in an Eerie Video Msgr. Charles Pope â€˘ February 16, 2018 â€˘ It is my usual Friday routine to feature a video (often a commercial) and draw some biblical or spiritual principle from it. The video below is no commercial; it is post-war footage from Berlin in July of 1945. Interestingly it is in color, but it can only be described as eerie. People walk about among the ruins in something of a daze. Not a word is said throughout. The people appear to be trying to get back to Â“normalÂ” life...

Proverb 17 (NKJV) The LORD Tests Hearts 01 Better is a dry morsel with quietness, 00 Than a house full of feasting with strife. 02 A wise servant will rule over a son who causes shame, 00 And will share an inheritance among the brothers. 03 The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, 00 But the LORD tests the hearts. 04 An evildoer gives heed to false lips; 00 A liar listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue. 05 He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker; 00 He who is glad at calamity will not...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Meditating Upon The Names and Attributes of God â€¨â€¨"YHVH Immeka - The LORD Is with You " (Old Testament) Judges 6:12 12Â When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, Â“The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.Â” (End of Scripture Passage) â€¨â€¨â€¨â€¨"YHVH Immeka - The LORD Is with You " Once Again, we turn to the Book of Judges for this Powerful Name of God. The time of the Judges were dark days for Israel, with enemies on all sides and general lawlessness. With this Greeting, God Commissions Gideon to defeat...

Join Freepers throughout the world to pray for PRESIDENT TRUMP and VICE-PRESIDENT PENCE and for AMERICA: All Levels of Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, Health Care Systems, the News, Media and Social Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14) Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. LORD, PLEASE SEND A REVIVAL FOR AMERICA’S SURVIVAL, WE PRAY IN THE NAME OF JESUS, AMEN.

THE STATION for today is as noted in the missal, in the church of St. Trypho, martyr; but this church having been destroyed many centuries ago, the station is now in that of St. Augustine, which is built on the same site. COLLECT Adesto, Domine, supplicationibus nostris, et concede ut hoc solemne jejunium, quod animabus corporibusque curandis salubriter institutum est, devoto servitio celebremus. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Give ear, O Lord, to our prayers, and grant that we may, with true devotion, observe this solemn fast which was wholesomely instituted for giving health to both our souls and...

February 17, 2018 Saturday after Ash Wednesday Reading 1 Is 58:9b-14 Thus says the LORD:If you remove from your midst oppression,false accusation and malicious speech;If you bestow your bread on the hungryand satisfy the afflicted;Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,and the gloom shall become for you like midday;Then the LORD will guide you alwaysand give you plenty even on the parched land.He will renew your strength,and you shall be like a watered garden,like a spring whose water never fails.The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake,and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up;"Repairer...

"The blameless in their walk are [God's] delight" (Prov. 11:20). Your love for God brings Him joy. Our focus so far this month has been on the joy we experience in knowing and serving Christ. Before we turn our attention to the theme of godliness, I want you to consider two additional aspects of joy: the joy of pleasing God, and how to lose your joy. Pleasing God is our topic for today. Perhaps you haven't given much thought to how you can bring joy to God, but Scripture mentions several ways. Luke 15:7, for example, says, "There will be...